Equifax mentioned that there was Web application vulnerability in May to July which exposed data of 143 million U.S. consumers.
Affected data includes names, Social Security numbers, birthdates and addresses, as well as some driver’s license numbers. Credit card numbers for approximately 209,000 consumers and dispute documents with personally identifiable information for approximately 182,000 consumers were accessed.
As per the global security strategist at Absolute, Richard Henderson – “Many people are going to lose their jobs, including Equifax executives, people will be brought before Congress to explain what happened, and consumer trust in all of the credit reporting agencies will be eroded.”
“It may be time for us to reconsider exactly how we allow companies to store all of this data,” Henderson added. “It’s clear that these mega-databases are prime targets for attack, and we may need to take a hard look at legislative changes that will force data brokers and collectors to take security up a few levels.”
“I apologize to consumers and our business customers for the concern and frustration this causes,” Equifax chairman and CEO Richard F. Smith said in a statement. “We pride ourselves on being a leader in managing and protecting data, and we are conducting a thorough review of our overall security operations.”
As per Illumio head of cybersecurity strategy Nathaniel Gleicher it is difficult to keep large data secure.
“Even large organizations struggle because it’s far too easy for intruders to slip across the perimeter and then bide their time inside compromised networks until they can get to the most valuable data,” Gleicher said. “If we want to stop breaches like this, we have to get much better at stopping lateral movement within compromised networks.”
As per chairman and founder of CyberScout, Adam Levin highlights the importance of implementing multi-factor authentication.
“While we don’t yet know the full dimensions of the Equifax breach, where the most sensitive information of over a third of the American population could have been exposed to cybercriminals, tens of millions of us are now forced to look over our shoulders for the rest of our lives because tons of Social Security numbers, the skeleton key to our lives, are out there for cybercriminals to steal and exploit,” Levin said.
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